One of the first major esports events of the year for Fortnite battle royale isn’t going exactly as planned. One particular player can’t attend the upcoming Australian Open Summer Smash 2020 event that will feature Fortnite as one of the main games there.

WenQian Forced to Miss Australian Open Because of Coronavirus

Chinese Fortnite player WenQian can’t attend the event and compete for charity due to the coronavirus. The player hasn’t contracted it but due to it spreading, attendance and travel isn’t possible.

A Reddit user shared the original tweet on the sub-Reddit page for the battle royale game’s competitive scene. Reddit user kttyaowa shared a screenshot of a tweet from Twitter user Rhidax, known as an analyst and coach in the battle royale competitive community.

Asian Fortnite player Newbee Wenqian will miss the Australia Open Event due to the Coronavirus from r/FortniteCompetitive

According to Rhidax, the coronavirus has “left its dent in competitive Fortnite.” The Australian Open Summer Smash 2020 competitor WenQian can’t participate in the upcoming event since he’s in China. He’s currently in Wuhan, China, the capital city of the Hubei province. Wuhan is supposedly where the coronavirus began.

The Chinese government quarantined the entire city. No one can enter or leave the city due to the virus. The risk of it spreading more is possible. So, the quarantine is necessary for containing it while still possible.

WenQian, unfortunately, can’t play in the upcoming charity event as it is only for in-person competition. Thankfully, a replacement participant was selected to participate in his place.

Replacement Already Selected for Australian Open 2020

QianLan from the esports team FunPlus Phoenix will compete in WenQian’s place. The Australian Open event takes place this weekend which makes the quick replacement impressive. Thirty teams of three players each will compete, hosting some of the biggest players from Australia and around the world.

Players competing include Benjyfishy, mitr0, EpikWhale, and now QianLan. Even the World Cup 2019 duo winners of the entire competition Nyphrox and Aqua will compete. All 90 players composed of the 30 trio teams will compete for a portion of the $100,000 prize pool which goes to charities of their choice. As such, it is unfortunate that WenQian can’t have that opportunity now.

WenQian and QianLan Pro Fortnite Accomplishments

Since playing for Newbee, WenQian has become one of the top players in the region. It is quite understandable why they got invited to the major charity event.

In the build-up to the World Cup 2019 event, WenQian, along with duos partner uxo, placed third in the World Cup Warmup competition in the Asia region. WenQian also placed third in the squads tournament in the Champion Series for season X in Week 2.

The same squad won first place during Week 2 in Asia of the Champion’s Trios Cash Cup event. WenQian’s most recent accomplishment is winning first place in the solo Champion Cash Cup event during Week 6.

QianLan, WenQian’s replacement, is another prominent Chinese pro player in the esports community. He plays for FunPlus Phoenix and has a lot of experience under their belt, including participating in the Pro-Am in Los Angeles.

One of QianLan’s biggest accomplishments is winning the Champion Series Week 1 in Asia for the Chapter 2, Season 1 competition. He followed it up with a third-place finish during the Friday Nite Fortnite competition in Week 2 and first place in Week 5.

As for the coronavirus, it reportedly began in Wuhan in December, where WenQian is from, in a market that sells exotic wild animals. The virus traces back to one of the animals mutated over time and spread to humans.

Although the city is under quarantine, it didn’t take long for it to spread to multiple countries with thousands of confirmed cases. There are more than 130 confirmed deaths due to the virus. The outbreak is one of the biggest news topics currently as countries attempt to handle the rapidly growing situation.